Running late: LIPA reform, congestion pricing

Daily Point

LIPA reform study on a delayed schedule

The timeline for delivering a report to the State Legislature on the future of the Long Island Power Authority is more than three months late but it’s still on track to make the case for public ownership of the utility.

On Tuesday, the legislative commission on the future of LIPA announced it will vote on a final draft report on April 17th. The deadline for that action had been Dec. 31, 2022. Release of the long awaited draft will be on Monday and followed by hearings in the three constituent counties, Suffolk April 19, Nassau April 21 and Queens (Rockaways) April 20. While some opposition could happen at the hearings, the real fight over changing LIPA is expected in the legislature where the unionized workforce that operates the transmission and distribution system will be a pivotal constituency.

After the draft is approved, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli will review it, as required.

This schedule is accelerated to make up for lost time. Instead of the April 1 deadline for the delivery of a final plan to the State Senate and Assembly on why and how LIPA should be restructured, commission director Rory Lancman estimated that now will happen “early to mid-May.” The legislative session is expected to end in early June. If a law is enacted to amend The LIPA Reform Act, Gov. Kathy Hochul would have until the end of the year to approve or veto it.

A former Assembly member, Lancman said that’s more than enough time for the legislature to debate and vote on how LIPA can be converted to a fully public utility that provides electricity to 1.1 million customers. LIPA currently has a small management structure overseeing a private utility operator, PSEG.

“One thing the world has not lacked for is a study of LIPA’s shortcomings and failure,” said Lancman.

— Rita Ciolli @ritaciolli

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Final Point

Traffic ahead for congestion pricing?

As budget negotiations continue in Albany, at least one lawmaker is thinking ahead — way ahead.

Assemb. David Weprin introduced a bill last week that would delay the effort to toll Manhattan’s central business district, known as congestion pricing, until at least January of 2029.

In his memo accompanying the bill, which currently has no State Senate sponsor, Weprin, who represents parts of Queens, calls congestion pricing an “unwarranted tax” that “will impose additional financial strain on New Yorkers at a time when families and businesses are still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation.”

Congestion pricing is currently slated to be implemented by the second quarter of 2024. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority still needs final approvals from federal regulators and the Traffic Mobility Review Board still has to determine what the exact pricing breakdown will look like.

While congestion pricing is slated to help fund the MTA’s capital plan, Weprin’s bill comes as Gov. Kathy Hochul and Senate and Assembly leaders are also debating how the state will help fund the MTA’s operating budget.

On that front, while Hochul has advocated using the Payroll Mobility Tax, along with casino-related revenue, to provide sustainable annual funds to the MTA, lawmakers have proposed a host of alternatives. Among them: a fee on for-hire vehicles that, some observers have said, likely wouldn’t work in the context of the congestion pricing plan.

With the budget already late, and other big topics still to resolve, the question is whether state officials will decide to fund the MTA through one-shots, rather than decide on larger, more ongoing revenue streams.

For now, multiple sources told The Point that MTA funding hasn’t risen to the top of the budget to-do list.

“The two big gorillas in the room are bail and housing,” one source with knowledge of the negotiations told The Point. “I haven’t heard anything about anything else.”

— Randi F. Marshall @RandiMarshall